It is often said in football that the matches defy scriptwriters, the action seemingly so unbelievable that nobody could have predicted what would happen. Manchester City versus Bournemouth was not one of those matches.
Pep Guardiola's Premier League title-winning machine up against a newly-promoted side that everybody expects to go down always looked like one of the bigger mismatches of the competition, and from the first whistle never threatened to look like anything else. Even still, it needed the help of new superstar Erling Haaland for a second successive week to make the Blue supremacy count.
Just in case it isn't tiring enough chasing a Guardiola side that has perfected the art of keeping the ball, Bournemouth arrived at the Etihad in temperatures more befitting the south coast. With drinks breaks introduced in light of the game being played in heat above 30 degrees, the task for Scott Parker and his men was simple: keep City out for four quarters.
